The invention relates to a method and device for recovering ink jet performance of an ink jet recording apparatus employed during initial ink charging and maintenance. More particularly, the invention is directed to a novel method and device for recovering ink jet performance in which the performance of the ink jet recording apparatus for recovering waste ink discharged from the ink jet head is improved.
An ink jet performance recovering device is generally provided to maintain ink jet performance of an ink jet recording apparatus. The device is designed to remove dust, dried ink, bubbles, and the like found on the ink jet head side when ink is initially charged to the ink jet head or when the ink jet recording apparatus is maintained. The device includes, e.g., a cap for covering the nozzle surface of the ink jet head, a vacuum suction pump that is connected so as to communicate with the cap through a connection tube at the discharge outlet of the cap, and a waste ink tank, connected so as to communicate with the vacuum suction pump, for recovering the waste ink sucked by the pump.
Such an ink jet performance recovering device is so designed that the nozzle surface of the ink jet head is first covered with the cap and a vacuum suction force is then applied to the nozzle surface of the ink jet head to thereby allow the waste ink to be recovered from the ink jet head side.
However, a technical problem has been addressed by this ink jet performance recovering process. That is, the ink remains within the connection tube, causing clogging or the like with the ink.
To overcome this technical problem, arts disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Unexamined Publications Nos. 60-71259 and 60-159058 are applied to a device, which is characterized as moving the cap away from the ink jet head after the ink jet performance recovering process has been performed, and under such condition, recovering the waste ink remaining within the connection tube positively by idly sucking the tube by the vacuum suction pump (the sucking operation under the same condition as in the ink jet performance recovering process). However, the waste ink remaining within the connection tube has not been recovered reliably. Thus, the technical problem that the waste ink remains within the connection tube has still been left unsolved.